---
title: 100 lines
genre: verse

project:
    title: Autocento of the breakfast table
    css: autocento
...

Whenever you call me friend \
I fall down on my knees and cry \
because I know it's the only thing \
never to happen before in this \
life is something you can't see \
it's a pillow under a [hook shot][] \
[I want to tell you something anything][tell-you] \
but you are there and I am here \
we are [trapped inside ourselves][trapped] \
and the distance is too far \
you are something that I would tell \
[would be nothing][] before too long \
you are not the finisher of dreams \
you are the beginning of [nightmares][] \
or waking but I'm not sure which \
this [letter is for you][] in the future \
it will lead you on the path \
of goodness or of rightness or of \
wrong people and right meanings \
or the meaning will be hidden \
or wrestling the demon I will have become \
restless under the starlight \
it's too bright here to think \
the negatives would be pitch black \
darkness of a silver mine \
there are [no trees][] here  \
where have you been where are you now \
I am no longer here or there \
you are anywhere or are you \
up in the clouds is a ghost \
he is white and blue like a cloud \
he paints with his teeth \
he paints the rainbow before midnight \
that you can see from your window \
staring out under the sunlight \
through the gauze curtains \
[over the high mountain][mountain] far away \
that is covered over with snow \
past the rivers and forests \
that lie awake under Orion \
hunting the bull that runs forever \
just out of his reach \
pointing the way for the two of us \
to join together in song or dance \
or that other thing and sing \
the Grinch down off Mount Crumpet \
[his heart breaking his chest][heart] \
thumping with the beat \
his [little dog too][] running running \
with the bull full of laughter and blood \
he can't see it anymore because it's become him \
we are trapped he says we are  \
trapped in ourselves it turns out \
that all along it wasn't you or me \
but he and her or her and him or  \
he and he or she and she or they \
even they tell us that nothing has happened \
even they know that it's a big joke \
one more thing to know before the death \
we are crying like crocodiles \
before their loved ones' coffins \
we are bellowing with grief like buffalo \
on a berth of wild oxen \
we are wailing our clothes are in rags \
[we want][want1] [we want][want2] [we want][want3] \
but never can we get \
what is it \
we don't know what it is \
but it's something it's anything \
it's too many people or not enough \
it's too few trees we need more \
beavers to build riverdams we need \
grapes too or [plums][] from the ice box \
or an ice box even would be nice \
all I have is this cube isn't that right \
or is a sphere a cube a donut a coffee \
cup your hands in mine yes that's right \
now bring the water to your face \
clear and cool and \
full of something \
what is it wanting \
or yearning \
I can see in your eyes they're clear now \
they are as clear as a running stream \
or the sky that's clear right \
or the water that is in the Bahamas \
because I hear that's clear \
you're as clear as the sound of a bell \
you're as clear as the [braying of horses][] \
you're as clear as the glass in God's eye \
and I \
I'm as dull as an ox plowing  \
[through fields in his yoke][yoke] \
I'm as dull as clouded amber \
I'm dull as you find me \
tonight after dinner \
I'm reading the crossword \
you're sitting beside me \
you're watching TV.

[hook shot]: theoceanoverflowswithcamels.html
[tell-you]: lovesong.html
[trapped]: howtoread.html
[would be nothing]: no-nothing.html
[nightmares]: in-bed.html
[letter is for you]: poetry-time.html
[no trees]: plant.html
[mountain]: mountain.html
[heart]: moon-drowning.html
[little dog too]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUpxmlZ2hyM
[want1]: i-wanted-to-tell-you-something.html
[want2]: fire.html
[want3]: lovesong.html
[plums]: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/245576
[braying of horses]: table_contents.html
[yoke]: last-passenger.html